Wow! Windows and Linux users please read!

This is a discussion on Wow! Windows and Linux users please read! within the Linux Programming forums, part of the Platform Specific Boards category; www.demolinux.org
Spread the word about this absolutely brilliant distribution! If you have high speed internet, download now, if not, get ...

Wow! Windows and Linux users please read!

www.demolinux.org
Spread the word about this absolutely brilliant distribution! If you have high speed internet, download now, if not, get the CD. It is soooooo worth it. I've been handing them out like candy here, and everyone has been extremely impressed (old Windows users are being turned). No install. It is installed on the CD, and won't mess with your HD unless you really want it to. Comes with great software, some nice programming environments, etc... Completely safe way to "play" with Linux (until you realise you can't live without it and trash your other OS).

-Justin

edit: Just worth reiterating: it doesn't use your hard drive at all, not for temp files or anything. Not unless you specifically set it up to (which you really can't do on accident).

(IMHO) The biggest difference is that Windows is closed proprietary software, while Linux is free open source software: you can download the source and you may run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve it.

I get better FPS now with Linux, but I just love the open source part too. It's going to be so interesting to see what developers can do when they have the OS source code right in front of them. I think it's going to prove to be a great development environment, and thus great programs. I'm really waiting for people to start actually paying for it, then we'll really see companies developing power apps and games for Linux.

Linux has many things you will recognise as Windows GUI-like, but it is very much a completely different OS. Even look at the GUI crooked, and you will see that it is really not the same at all - much better in my opinion.

Once you get use to the differences, you will see how powerful they are, and just how easy it is to be a control freak and tweak every little thing. Granted, this is somewhat possible in Windows, especially with all the resource hog settings on in XP. But it isn't.. natural, like it is in Linux, nor is it nearly as efficient.

Open Source is really only icing. When you play with Linux, look at its advantages and its differences instead of the typical comparing, and I think you'll end up like me - thinking it is easier to operate and manipulate.

Oh yeah, and
+ No viruses, unless you run a Windows app.

+ 90% Windows app compatibility.

+ All the functionality of Windows 2K Server, plus some, for the download time or a fraction of the price in stores (SuSE 7.2 or 7.3 is the way to go).

+ Hardware control... if you design device drivers, you'll never want to look at Windows again.

+ What is the "reboot" you speak of?

+ Despite myth, it does crash now and then with weird apps.. but it is almost always recoverable (yeah, you can kill a locked up process.. and it works!)

+ How come windows in Windows can't be sticky? Oh, right, only one desktop and only one window manager. Bummer.

+ A billion little things you really gotta see for yourself.

+ People who try it, can usually go on and on for days about features until the poor souls who accidently asked collapse with blurry eyes.

-Justin

[edit] Gotta say, since this is a programming forum: Linux offers a whole lot of programming perks that cost a lot of money in Windows (free Oracle programming tools, IDEs, compilers of every sort, etc..)

agreed, and it just keeps getting better. The 7.x series of SuSe and RedHat were much improved. And the 8.x series will really see a desktop improvment b/c of three things. Gnome 2, KDE 3, and StarOffice 6. Ohh, and did I mention I love Loki? One thing that hasn't been mentioned, then I'll shutup. The Linux community is huge, and I can't go far without finding a forum or mailing list to solve my problem. In Windows, I still don't know where to go to get bugs solved. MS KnowledgeBase? haha.

Well, right, people don't write them largely. It is much harder to write a virus for Linux than it is for Windows, it can't do any serious damage if the user isn't logged in as root, which basically means it can never do serious damage, it is thought to be more "wrong" to write it for Linux (and the one who does had better be very good at hiding), and whenever a security hole is detected, it is patched immediately.

I don't have anything concete to counter this, but it sure sounds tricky. Unless you're running a windows emulator, how can a program written for windows run in Linux? Got a URL?

Yes, it is an emulator, however it is emulating a very clean Windows and often runs software faster than my Windows partition can run the same thing. The emulator is called "wine" and has evolved incredibly rapidly. It started out as a sluggish beast, but people have really devoted themselves to it, and the latest versions can do amazing things. It includes tools to help you port your own Windows apps as well, should you desire a native build. Here is the homepage.

The DOS emulator also runs all my DOS apps that Windows 2K can't. Kinda sad that Microsoft's product has worse support for its old OS's than its competitor, don't you think..

You have to have a modern Linux system for anything to work really well, of course. Just like Win2K is better than many older implementations. (I have not yet formed a final judgment on XP..)

I'm really waiting for people to try out and love Linux, so that we'll see even more companies developing for it. Though it has some pretty wonderful power apps and games already.

Govtcheez, the point is...

>> I'm really waiting for people to start actually paying for it, then we'll really see companies developing power apps and games for Linux.

>That would kinda defeat the pupose of Linux altogether, wouldn't it?

No, Govtcheez, it would not. I would gladly pay for Linux if I had to (at least the prices are fair, not like bloody XP). When they say Linux is free, they mean 'free speech not free beer'. 'Free' in this context (linux) means not only that the product is free, but that the user is 'free' to do whatever they like with it - modify it, redistribute it, even sell it. That - and the fact the Linux is a hobby and passion for thousands of skilled developers worldwide, not the brainchild of some corporate bigwig who's only concerned about revenue - is what makes Linux great.